Berkeley has honored political activist Daniel Ellsberg with three street signs along Kittredge Street, at Milvia Street, Harold Way, and Fulton Street. Kittredge Street runs from the east side of Berkeley High School and ends near UC Berkeley on Fulton Street. The honorary signs do not replace previous Kittredge signs but are permanently placed in addition. The signs connect the high school and the university through the center of Berkeley, passing the public library and the downtown area. This project has been underway for around three years, continuing despite Ellsberg’s passing on June 16, 2023 due to pancreatic cancer.
Ellsberg, famously known for releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971, was a political activist who lived in Kensington. Ellsberg originally worked as a United States military analyst which gave him access to the documents in the Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers was a 7000-page document that detailed US involvement in the Vietnam War. With his access Ellsberg photocopied all 7000 pages and gave them to The New York Times where they were published. This led to public outrage against the government and the establishment of Ellsberg as one America’s most famous whistleblowers.
Phyllis Olin, a member of the commission that sought to honor Ellsberg and president of the Western States Legal Foundation, an anti-nuclear organization, was at the lead for the street sign implementation. “Ellsberg risked his life to do what he did,” Olin said. She knew Ellsberg personally through local activism in Berkeley when they both protested at Livermore Lawrence Laboratory against nuclear research and development, despite being arrested often. “I have felt that being arrested with him was an honor,” she said.
During the time that the Pentagon Papers were being publicized, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger referred to Ellsberg as “the most dangerous man in America”
Despite Ellsberg's impact, many people aren’t aware of his story.. “I think it's unfortunate, but young people do not know about him. And I think this was our dream that because the street signs were up, people would be motivated to find out more," Olin said.
According to Grace Morizawa, a member of the Western States Legal Foundation with Olin, not only are there many young people who don’t know about Ellsberg but some people on the planning commission didn’t even know about Ellsberg when the signs were proposed. Although Ellsberg’s fame has lessened, his mission is just as relevant today. George Lippman, another member of the commission, commented on whistleblowing, echoing Ellsberg’s perspective. It could hurt their career, but we have to set up a way for people to do it safely, and for whistleblowers not to be prosecuted. Right now, we have the opposite of all that. Whistleblowers are demonized,” he said. In the case of the Pentagon Papers, Ellsberg was saved by the courts, and that led to the legacy he possesses today “(Ellsberg) transformed himself from a war-maker to a peacemaker, and he stuck with it his entire life,” Lippman said.
The signs along Kittredge specifically read, “Daniel Ellsberg Way.” According to Lippman, they could’ve chosen Street or Avenue. “Instead, it's Ellsberg Way because there is a way to change, and that involves risk,” Lipmann said. The resolution presented by the commission argues that the street signs “will serve as an ongoing reminder to Berkeley’s youth and all residents of the great moral value of whistleblowers, standing up for one’s beliefs, and working for a permanent end to nuclear weapons and nuclear war.”